OpenMainframe.org - Mainframe News - IBM Remains On U.S. Antitrust Watch

Top

Quick Reference

Open Mainframe Links

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Commission initiates formal investigations against IBM in two cases of suspected abuse of dominant market position

by Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission

(26 July, 2010)

The European Commission has decided to initiate formal antitrust investigations against IBM Corporation in two separate cases of alleged infringements of EU antitrust rules related to the abuse of a dominant market position (Article 102 TFEU). Both cases are related to IBM's conduct on the market for mainframe computers. The first case follows complaints by emulator software vendors T3 and Turbo Hercules, and focuses on IBM's alleged tying of mainframe hardware to its mainframe operating system. The second is an investigation begun on the Commission's own initiative of IBM's alleged discriminatory behaviour towards competing suppliers of mainframe maintenance services.

Click to read the announcement...

Click to read related news...

Bowler Roger Bowler Responds to IBM Patent Attack on Open Source

by Roger Bowler Creator of Hercules and Co-founder of TurboHercules

(Posted in News & Blogs section of turbohercules.com on 6 April, 2010)

As many of you know, the company I founded to promote the Hercules open source mainframe emulator, TurboHercules SAS, has filed an antitrust complaint against IBM with the European Commission in Brussels. We are not asking that IBM be subjected to punishing fines or anything like that. We simply want IBM to agree to allow legitimate paying customers of its z/OS mainframe operating system to deploy that software on the hardware platforms of their choice – including, should they so choose, on low-cost servers using Intel or AMD microprocessors and Hercules.

I want to make clear that we undertook this action reluctantly, and only after a long period of reflection during which we reached out to IBM to see if there was some way to resolve our differences amicably. I regret to report that IBM rebuffed our efforts at conciliation, and even added fuel to the fire by launching accusations against Hercules. I would like to take this opportunity to respond to some of those charges.

Click to read more...

Steven Friedman The T3 Technologies story

by Steven Friedman, T3 Technologies

For over 15 years, my company was a successful IBM Business Partner. I used to have a thriving company with over 50 employees, nearly 1,000 customers in 28 countries (including 200 customers in 15 European Community states) and a profitable revenue stream earned through selling mainframe solutions to IBM customers. However, now our company is effectively out of business due to the direct actions of the company I used to be closely aligned with: IBM.

Click to read more...

Friday

Jul302010

IBM Remains On U.S. Antitrust Watch

July 30, 2010

(InformationWeek) By Paul McDougall

As it embarks on a campaign to bring the mainframe back to the mainstream, emboldened by the introduction this month of its most powerful data-center class machine ever, IBM is finding that regulatory authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are keeping a watchful eye on its activities in a market it's come to utterly dominate.

The company is still the subject of a Justice Department antitrust probe into its mainframe licensing policies, and EU authorities this week launched their own investigation.

The DOJ began its probe last October, and a regulatory filing by IBM this week indicated it's still active nine months later. "IBM has been notified that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating possible antitrust violations by IBM, and the DOJ has requested certain information," IBM said in a second-quarter report filed Tuesday with the SEC.

Click to read more...

Email Article |

Print Article |